05-04-2025
50 People Who Are So, So, So, So, So Much Smarter Than Me It's Embarrassing
1. Like this clever person who figured out a way to "encrypt" their message to someone whose wallet they found.
"That's very interesting! So assuming the person is older than 18 and younger than 95, there's about 28k possible combinations!"
— myagi-son
2. The smart (and helpful) movie theater owner who put up this sign to let you know if a movie has end credits or not.
"THIS IS SO FRICKIN' IMPORTANT! Genius move whoever thought of this."
— Glad-Coyote9589
3. The brilliant venue manager who put the location of the bathrooms on the back of employees' shirts.
"Peak efficiency right there."
— dlkapt3
4. The librarian who made the genius decision to have a "library of things" for residents to borrow like toolkits and power washers:
TumainiTiger / Via
"I live close to a tool library. Everything from lawnmowers to gardening tools or drills, table saws, etc. You name it, they've got it. They will also give you a quick training on the equipment if you need it. We've used them for all sorts of random things, including ceramic tile saws, post-hole diggers, and lawn aerators."
— ApprehensiveStuff828
5. The clever owner of this pizzeria who started using a dough ball instead of the plastic thing to keep the box from smushing the pizza.
6. This crafty seamster who shared a simple, but genius hack to sew in a straight line.
lucidillusions / Via
"It's sew obvious."
— m1racle
"It really seams effective."
— Trustmemeimadoctor
"I love this thread."
— NovelTAcct
7. The smarty who created this smart door latch that doubles as an accessories holder in a public restroom.
YourInfidelityInMe / Via YourInfidelityInMe
8. And the person at DFW airport who added these lights to the bathroom stalls so you can tell which are available.
Emeri5 / Via
"I was there a couple weeks ago during a layover, and when you enter the bathroom, there is a digital sign that says how many stalls are available. Best thing ever."
—[deleted]
9. These young Girl Scouts, aka geniuses, who posted up outside a local dispensary to sell cookies.
10. The brainy person who designed this ruler to have cascading millimeter marks so it's easier to read.
11. The sharp AF person who added this small, but highly useful, feature to an oven — showing the time you started cooking.
Fearless-Professor33 / Via
12. The retail store designer who had the wisdom to make this hanger for a dressing room.
13. The restaurant owner who had these neat lights installed to get your server's attention silently.
14. And the restaurant owner who had the foresight to install both unscented (for before eating) and scented (for after eating) soap dispensers.
"This is at KazuNori, a place that serves mainly sushi hand rolls. You wouldn't want a fragranced soap scent lingering on your hands to interfere with the taste of the food. But then afterward, you might want scented to cover up any (potential) fish smell."
— thafraz
15. The person who had the idea to sort this furniture hardware by step rather than type.
16. And this bird of a feather who laid it out REALLY simple.
17. The person who came up with this simple life improvement — fan pull chains that have a light bulb and fan blades at the end to indicate which chain to pull.
18. The absolute genius who designed this shirt to have a lens cloth sewn in at the bottom.
19. The clever person who designed this store to have different surfaces to "road test" strollers.
eyedubb / Via
Parents everywhere: "THANK YOU."
20. The intelligent paper bag designer who came up with this.
u/Sugalips2000 / Via
This needs to be in every grocery store.
21. This super smart grandpa who sorted his extra sauce packets into a case.
satchamo87 / Via
Honestly, genius.
22. The person who designed this umbrella to only show the logo when it rains.
jaegee0000 / Via
Subtly clever.
23. The smarty who designed this spatula with a little stand.
dgroove8 / Via
Could also be used as a hook perhaps?
24. The canny person at this library who created "binge boxes" to loan out.
bradshaw1992 / Via
Here for a Coen brothers marathon, TBH.
25. And the equally clever person at this library who made cake pans available to check out.
Museumgirl82 / Via
"One of my locals does tool lending. Super helpful for pricy tools that you're only going to use once or twice."
— GhostalMedia
26. The genius traffic light designer who made this one with an hourglass to help count down the time left before the light changes.
nonexisting-- / Via
"PEDESTRIANS: START YOUR HURRYING!"
— heyhihay
27. And the person who came up with the idea of adding crossing lights on the ground that turn green/red — helpful for people who are basically glued to their phones!
Diban977 / Via
"This is pretty common where I live in Korea; almost everyone looks at their phones when walking, so it makes sense."
— MsAndooftheWoods
28. This clever cook who shared a neat truck to measure honey in a baking recipe.
KevlarYarmulke / Via
"Also, if the recipe calls for any sort of oil, just measure and pour that before you do the honey, and it will slip right out."
— anoble562
29. And the smarty who added this drawing on a pasta box to help gauge the quantity of pasta you need/use.
LorenzoCol / Via
"How to calculate the correct amount of pasta to cook:
1. Estimate the amount you think you'll need.
2. Wrong."
— Maddie-Moo
30. This mom who painted an outlet to blend in with its surroundings.
FentanylBolus / Via
"They are all around the kitchen, and to be completely honest, they are pretty hard to find."
— FentanylBolus
31. And THIS mom who painted an outlet to blend in with its surroundings.
newherel / Via
Good job, mom!
32. The person who made this bench on rails so you can always be in the shade.
DhyeyLim / Via
"Or around a fire pit, so you can move the seating away from the smoke."
— jadethief17
33. And this clever designer who came up with this bench/ad, which is just really cool-looking IMO.
CassiusIsAlive / Via
"Break me off a piece of that BUS STOP BENCH!"
— zahnsaw
34. The smarty pants who designed this toilet to have a sink attached to the top — this is so you can reuse the sink water in the next flush in order to help save water.
Divachu / Via
"My relatives in Japan had one of these. Theirs looked relatively fancy in comparison to this. it really made their tiny guest bathroom useable. There was absolutely no room for a toilet and a sink otherwise."
— MangoCandy
35. The helpful person who designed these stairs with a groove on the side to make carrying bikes easier.
y0immatt / Via
"Bike runnel is the term if you're curious."
— mykreau
36. The genius that designed this shirt with buttons on the inside as well to help prevent annoying boob-gap.
kalimoo / Via
People with boobs, I know you know the struggle!
37. The person who incorporated kick buttons on these elevators.
rastroboy / Via
Carrying packages? No problem!
38. Whoever designed these benches to be reversible so you can choose your view.
thoughtgun / Via
So you can look at the people walking by or the boats out in the marina.
39. The earth-conscious inventor of these cardboard hangers in a store.
CrapSheSaidSheWas18 / Via
"Cardboard can be sturdy as hell. I got cabinets delivered, and they were boxed in cardboard. That was the hardest cardboard I've ever had to cut up."
— Annoying_Auditor
40. And this eco-friendly bar owner who opted to start using pasta as straws instead of plastic.
gary_was_alone / Via
"They last a whole lot longer than paper straws that disintegrate before you finish your drink AND are much better for frozen drinks and milkshakes that take longer to finish drinking. Paper straws go soggy less than halfway through the frozen drink and collapse on themselves when you try to suck."
— Scirax
41. The person who packed this tube with a tongue depressor attached to prevent it from rolling around.
SarcasticGamer / Via
"I work at the post office. I'm told they do this so that the tubes actually get scanned going through the machines (basically a conveyer belt that scans on the top and bottom). Otherwise they spin and/or don't get scanned correctly.
If they don't get scanned, the tracking numbers don't get updated, and people get all mad. By doing it this way, they get scanned at each processing plant."
— PrometheusAborted
42. The wise person who came up with this gate design that allows horses but not vehicles.
Blencathra / Via
"As someone who works on a ranch, I cannot explain how useful this would be where I work. People like to drive down the private roads the farm is located on to see the horses, but we need to keep the gate open to bring the horses back after a ride."
— Kalashnikov-model_47
43. The thoughtful person who dreamed up this device that shows how much blood a local blood bank has.
awritemate / Via
This is in Melbourne, Australia in case you were wondering.
44. The designer of this hotel phone in Iceland that has a special button to wake you up if there are Northern Lights in the sky.
KristjanHrannar / Via
"Iceland is such a wonderful country. When we lived there, in Reykjavík, if there were Northern Lights in the forecast, they would dim the city lights."
— Sharchir
45. The person who designed this cool jacket with a hand-me-down label.
Investr_shiba / Via
"If you've ever owned anything from you know this is legit because it lasts forever. I have a backpack from kindergarten that is still in good shape 15 years later."
— KnowledgeShouldBFree
46. The clever tire-maker who incorporated a tread depth measurer built into the rubber.
KevlarYarmulke / Via
"Should be a safety requirement on all tires! Brilliant. (The numbered design, not just the usual indicators.)"
— 3WarmAndWildEyes
47. The store owner who came up with this idea — two different sets of shopping baskets for those that need help or want to be left alone.
saksith / Via
"Home Depot needs some system like this. Like a 'Newbie Home Depot shopper' vs. 'I know more than you.'"
— 440Jack
48. This landscaper who leaves a rectangle of wildflowers so bees can use them.
Gaddanger / Via
"My office started doing that now, too, for the bees and generally to increase biodiversity. It looks great, really colorful, and lush — much nicer than having a boring lawn around an office for no reason."
— Shasve
49. The handy cat parent who repurposed an old TV into a lovely cat bed for their cat's birthday.
BrewCoven / Via
"Two hundred channels, and nothing but cats."
— bandastalo
50. Finally, the high-key genius who created this Oreo cookie holder that attaches to a glass, thus making them smarter than literally all of us.
fuzziblanket / Via
We salute you.